Rural landscapes: the glory of a frosty landscape
WINTER FOOTHILLS NEAR BLACK DIAMOND, ALBERTA
When conditions are right, stunning landscapes like this are everywhere south of Calgary, where I live. In this case, I used a big telephoto lens to isolate one section of scenery. As is common when I photograph winter in this western Canadian province, I created colour and monotone versions. I like the latter because black-and-white creates instant drama. But the colour version is cool, too. You can see it here: http://bit.ly/3qEZ19m.
It’s funny; this telephoto composition still includes a LOT of acreage, but I had a secondary goal: make the snowy Rocky Mountain peaks as big as possible into the photo. That would not have been possible with a “standard” lens. This lens also helps you see the cattle grazing in one of the fields.
Nikon D7100, tripod, 70-300 mm. lens, polarizing filter.
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Urban landscapes: the colourful way over the river
THE PEACE BRIDGE AND BOW RIVER, CALGARY, ALBERTA
This remarkable pedestrian and cyclist bridge, completed in 2012 at a cost of $25 million, is still controversial to some residents because of its astronomical cost.
That said, the Santiago Calatrava creation is one of the most heavily used pedestrian bridges in the city. Here’s another view that highlights the fantastical design: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-5J.
I visited this viewpoint on a sunny afternoon and appreciated the colour mix and the reflection in the river. My timing was perfect; I visited again a week later and found the river entirely frozen over.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: the winter waterfall wonderland
WEBSTER FALLS, NEAR HAMILTON, ONTARIO
I dug around in the archives and came up with this photograph, made way back in 2008 when it was still possible to access the bottom of the falls. I was blown away by the fantastical ice and snow formations (here they are from above: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-An) and spent a lot of time exploring them.
There was little colour in this scene except an underwhelming shade of brown-yellow, so it was a no-brainer to go black-and-white.
Nikon D50, tripod.
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Rural landscapes: the yard, all to himself
HORSE AND BARN, NEAR PARSON, BRITISH COLUMBIA
While driving between the Rocky Mountain towns of Golden and Radium, I’ve come across this scene before and, in fact, photographed it. However, the photo never seemed compelling enough to publish.
On a recent trip, I passed this scene once more. But the addition of a horse in such a perfect position made me stop and pull out the camera again. Thankfully, he (she? I’m no expert in these things) stayed still long enough to make several compositions. This is one of the best.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Urban landscapes: the photographer’s viewpoint
PHOTOGRAPHING THE RIVER AND SKYLINE, CALGARY, ALBERTA
By January, the Bow River is usually almost totally frozen over, but this western Canadian province has yet to experience a deep freeze. That meant it was possible to photograph the fully lit downtown skyline reflected in the open water.
I have, of course, the original full-colour version (made on my iPhone), but transforming everything into monotone except the ‘live view’ on the camera back makes for a cool picture.
PS: can anyone guess what that strange filter is sticking up on the front of the camera?
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Natural landscapes: the flow of winter water
KICKING HORSE RIVER, YOHO NATIONAL PARK, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Ice and flowing water usually makes for a photogenic combination and as you can see, this spot in the Canadian Rocky Mountains was no exception. I went for a long exposure to turn the river silky and help guide your eyes through what would have otherwise been a chaotic scene.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, neutral density (darkening) filter.
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Urban landscapes: bright lights in the gathering dusk
CITY SKYLINE REFLECTED IN THE BOW RIVER, CALGARY, ALBERTA
The Bow River is often frozen over in winter, but this year has so far been an exception. That made it possible to find locations like this, where I could capture the downtown skyscrapers, fully lit at dusk and beautifully reflected in the water. Finding an interesting foreground was a nice bonus.
Nikon D7100, tripod, graduated density (darkening) filter on the sky.
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Natural landscapes: the mountain puffball of snow
ROCKY SHORELINE ALONG THE BOW RIVER, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
After many hours of making pictures in overcast conditions, the last hour of my photo trip was blessed with strong afternoon sunshine. That made pictures like this possible as I scrambled to find as many scenes as possible before the short winter day ended.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the peaks and sky
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Natural landscapes: encased in the snows of winter
ICE FORMATION ON THE OTTAWA RIVER, DEEP RIVER, ONTARIO
While visiting family in eastern Ontario, I ventured onto the thick ice of this river, which serves as the border between two Canadian provinces, to find interesting formations like this.
Using a very shallow depth of field put the distant shoreline out of focus so it wouldn’t compete with the ice formation, yet still enable you to comprehend what you’re seeing.
Winter light, coming from so far south, is very good all of the short days of winter and that’s what made this compelling scene so photogenic.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Rural landscapes: racing through mountain glory
FREIGHT TRAIN IN THE CANADIAN ROCKIES, YOHO NATIONAL PARK, BRITISH COLUMBIA
Construction of a cross-country railway is woven into the historic fabric of Canada, so I’m always stirred by the sight of a train racing through an iconic landscape like this.
The train you sort-of see here was so long that when I saw it coming, I had time to set up my equipment and exposure time and make as many long exposures as I wanted before the last car roared off into the distance. You can see the colour version here: https://bit.ly/dztbefbvaf.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the peaks and sky
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Rural landscapes: the road to winter heaven
COUNTRY LANEWAY NEAR CALGARY, ALBERTA
I was blessed to be able to venture out with my photography equipment shortly after a glorious winter frost covered everything around this western Canadian city.
It really was hard to make a bad picture in conditions like this. And finding a solitary fir tree right at the point where the lane makes a hard left? In the words of a Seinfeld character, “that’s GOLD, Jerry. GOLD!” 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Natural landscapes: welcome to the freezing dawn
WINTER SUNRISE ON THE OTTAWA RIVER, PETAWAWA, ONTARIO
Whenever my wife & I visit family near this military town, I make sure to visit the river because there are almost always amazing creative opportunities to be had. This particular morning was as frigid as it looks, but I don’t recall much of a wind and that always makes things easier.
The colour version is good (you can see it here: https://bit.ly/PetawawaWinterSunrise), but I knew it would also make a dramatic monotone picture. Do you agree?
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the trees and sky
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Rural landscape: shelter on the winter prairies
WEATHERED BARN NEAR CARMANGAY, ALBERTA
What a great setting for a charming, ancient barn! The snowy patterns in the field, beautifully lit by the angled winter sun, allowed me to put the barn on the left and let your eyes wander through the field.
Then, just to make it a touch more interesting, I kept the barn in colour and converted the rest of the scene into monotone. You get a hint of the deep blue sky in the snow on the roof. (Here’s the photo in full colour: https://bit.ly/AlbertaPraireBarn.)
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Rural landscapes: Merry Christmas from Alberta
SNOWY WAGON NEAR CALGARY, ALBERTA
Could you ask for better conditions to capture a winsome Christmas image? The wagon was close to the fence, so I went for the shallowest possible depth of field in order to put the fence out of focus.
A full-colour version (which you can see here: https://bit.ly/SnowyChristmasWagon) has been one of my most popular pictures on another website, selling almost 10 times over the years. But I like this version’s popping red surrounded by black-and-white.
Some thoughts on the season, from “Frank’s Cottage,” my other website: Christmas is about our creator seeing our broken condition and reaching out to us — coming to earth as a helpless baby born in an obscure Middle Eastern village. That’s what makes this season so wonderful. 🙂
Nikon D7100, tripod
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Natural landscapes: the epic valley view
COLUMBIA RIVER VALLEY, RADIUM, BRITISH COLUMBIA
As Highway 93 heads south from this town, there are spectacular viewpoints to see over the valley and Rocky Mountains to the west. I especially like the grasslands landscape, but as I looked through the camera viewfinder, I knew adding a person to the scene would give you something to rest your eyes on in the bottom half of the composition. So I turned on the camera timer and galloped down the hill a half-dozen times to make exposures. This one is the best of the bunch. Here’s the scene in full colour: https://bit.ly/WalkingInRadium.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter, graduated density (darkening) filter on the mountains and sky
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Natural landscapes: under the dome of sunrise
DAWN COLOURS, BOW RIVER, CALGARY, ALBERTA
I’ve seen more spectacular sunrises, but for some reason this scene – just a few kilometres east of this western Canadian city’s downtown core – came together spectacularly well. It helped to have a nice mix of water and ice. Plus, the long exposure turned the water mostly silky, which helped it reflect the sunrise colours.
Nikon D7100, tripod, two graduated density (darkening) filters on the sky.
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Natural landscapes: the dance of ice and water
WINTER AT SINCLAIR CREEK, KOOTENAY NATIONAL PARK, BRITISH COLUMBIA
I had planned all along to finish my day-long photo trip with a stop at this stream in the Canadian Rockies. As you can see, I was not disappointed.
The sun had set by the time I made this picture and I needed a 15-second exposure to compensate for the declining light. In fact, my long-exposure picture-making along this creek ended when my camera battery ran out of power.
The picture works very well in colour (which you can see here: https://bit.ly/SinclairCreek), but I knew it would be quite attractive in monotone. Do you agree?
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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Urban landscapes: approaching the avenue of trees
BROOKFIELD PLACE, CALGARY ALBERTA
Completed in 2017, the 56-storey, 810-foot Brookfield Place is the tallest building in Calgary and among the ten tallest in Canada.
I struggled to capture the building’s outdoor plaza and trees until figuring out how to add the illuminated bench to the scene. Then I figured out how to add the small restaurant building to the composition. Finally, tilting the camera a bit introduced more dynamic lines to the final photo.
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Natural landscapes: in the land of dinosaur hunters
WINTER AT DINOSAUR PROVINCIAL PARK, NEAR BROOKS, ALBERTA
Many people have never walked in the strange, fascinating world of badlands. So to see them covered in snow is even more exotic. I spent half a day here (one of the world’s most important dinosaur fossil sources) and it was glorious – photogenic landscapes were everywhere and I did not encounter even one other human being.
The only real colour in this scene was blue, so I opted to show you a monotone version, which heightens the drama. That said, here’s what the park looks like in winter colour: https://wp.me/p2ccTX-12t.
Nikon D90, tripod, polarizing filter.
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Natural landscapes: the snowy mountain perspective
SNOWY TREES IN A HIGH MEADOW, BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA
I made the short, steep trek up from the road to check out the post-snowfall views and was blessed with this glorious scene.
As is so often the case with winter pictures, the colour version is compelling (you can see it here: https://bit.ly/SnowyBanffTrees) but going black-and-white increases the drama.
Nikon D7100, tripod, polarizing filter
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